Posted on 01/22/2015 7:14:12 PM PST by jazusamo
Drivers trying to calculate whether it's practical to own an electric car are facing a new math.
U.S. gas prices have fallen more than $1 per gallon over the last 12 months, to a national average of $2.06, according to AAA. That makes electric cars with their higher prices tags a tougher sell.
"Fuel savings are not top of mind to many consumers right now," says John Krafcik, president of the car shopping site TrueCar.com.
Automakers have responded by slashing thousands of dollars off the sticker price of electrics. Incentives averaged $4,159 per electric car last year, up 68 percent from 2013, according to Kelley Blue Book. The average for all vehicles was $2,791.
The discounting, combined with new vehicles such as the BMW i3, the electric Kia Soul and the Mercedes B Class, boosted sales of electrics 35 percent last year, according to Ward's AutoInfoBank. But the gains came before gas prices plunged in the second half.
So the discounting will likely continue. In January, the electric version of the Ford Focus was selling for an average of $25,168, or 16 percent lower than the sticker price of $29,995, according to TrueCar.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
And that is when we'll be wishing that Obama hadn't closed down the coal industry and clean coal technology.
I’m so deep into the principal at this point that the interest portion doesn’t loft my deductions that much.
But you can’t get a 4000 tax incentive if you aren’t paying at least 4000 in taxes.
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>> “I heard the same basic complaints about flat-panel TVs just before the transition” <<
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I didn’t!
I used flat screen units in my field work for 10 years before they began producing TVs. I bet you used them too.
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Oh, sure, they were available ... but at “a flat-panel TV in every home” scales? wasn’t gonna happen at several thousand dollars each vs “superior” CRTs for cheap. Why sell a 42” panel at home TV prices when you could cut 4 computer monitors out of the same glass and sell ‘em at $2000 a pop?
I’ve paid around a half-million $$$ in taxes. ‘nuf said.
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This isn’t about TV, what is your lithium solution?
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I haven’t paid that, but I’ve paid an awful lot.
And like I said, if I can take a tax incentive and keep that money instead of sending it to the Fed, then I’ll do it in a heartbeat. I’d rather spend my money on me than on some federally approved study to find the love interests of the Mongolian earthworm.
trying to control what people buy through tax incentives is foolishness
That’s probably true for the most part. But when it comes to my money and a check that I have to write out to the IRS, I prefer it to be smaller. And if I can accomplish that by buying something that I’m already interested in anyway, then I’ll do it.
My car runs on compost, and I heat my house with solar batteries.
ObamaCar Mandate coming
I can’t agree with that.
Technology continues to change. What wasn’t proven not all that long ago becomes proven. It gets proven by doing it.
LCD tech has been around for a long time, but its only been fairly recently that it has been practical for large displays with wide viewing angles. That changed everything.
Electric cars will make that transition sooner, or later. It all comes down to electric energy storage technology. Be it fuel cells or batteries. Storage technology is changing rapidly. Its coming.
Not having a perpetual monthly lease payment, along with tossing down a few grand every trade in is coming out ahead in my book.
Glad its good for you, but for most it is an impractical car. If you need to take a long drive through the mountains in winter, that is not the car to own.
Pray America is waking
There are other battery technologies that don’t use lithium.
There are other electricity storage and production technologies other than batteries.
Just like TVs and those who dismissed CRT alternatives (”you’re not seriously suggesting putting six million lights on glass, operated at 240 times per second are you? That’s absurd!”).
The real comedy here is people making long term financial judgements based on what is likely a temporary situation.
Once the domestic production has been run out of business, the left will likely find some way to make it financially untenable to restart.
Just wait...
>> I dont regret leasing it.
Leasing is arguably the way to go — turn in the vehicle before it needs a battery replacement.
Have you calculated your total cost per mile to drive?
They were subsidized so much that in some cases there was a rational economic argument for use as a second, commuter car. Especially if the user was able to charge at work on the employer’s/landlord’s dime.
I don’t have one, but know a couple people who do, and it seems to make sense. Well, it made sense to the individual, the ridiculous subsidies that made this so, not so much.
If you don't count the whole fuel to wheels system. Most of the energy from the original fuel didn't leave the power plant, more was lost along the way to home, charging system, etc...
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